How To Make The Baseball Coaches’ Gift They’ll Treasure Forever

For many families across the Unites States, the onset of Spring meant Little League opening days followed by countless weekday evenings and weekends on the field and in the bleachers.

And for a lot of people baseball is not just a way to keep the kids busy and moving, it’s also their passion. This love of the game is ever apparent in the many hours parents who are able dedicate to coaching children of all ages and levels.

Create The Baseball Coach Gift They’ll Treasure Forever

As the Little League season comes to an end, one of the most pressing challenges is how to get a gift that will recognize all the hard work the coaches have put into the season while also keeping it budget-friendly since every family may not be able to contribute the same amount.

So I’m going to share how to make a gift for baseball coaches that they’ll treasure forever and won’t break the bank: a league and season-specific bat signed by all the players on the team.

Hey batta batta batta!

For those of you who are curious about the cost, I’ll end the suspense. The total cost per completed bat is approximately $25.00.

Materials:

31″ Louisville Slugger “youth” wood bat in the color ash. ($19.99 via Amazon) The “youth” bat is the best option because it is the least expensive one that is offered as 31″ leaving ample space for the kids to sign.

Vinyl letters (~3.99 for pre-cut letters at a craft store or ~$1.20 for 12″ x 12″ piece of blank vinyl) The pre-cut letters are available in a standard font and a selection of colors, so it’s likely you can find your team color or one close to it. If you own a machine like a Silhouette Cameo or Cricut, your font and color options are exponentially greater, because you’ll just use the machine to cut the blank vinyl.

Sharpie pen (~.60/pen)

Transfer paper (~.20/per bat) To use for placement of the machine-cut vinyl letters.

This project is as straightforward as it seems, but I’m doing to break it down anyway to make sure you have all the necessary information as well as the little details to make it great.

Make League & Year-Specific Vinyl Letters

The bat already has some writing and logos on it so in order to keep a nice visual balance I decided 1″ letters and numbers would be best.

I did not buy pre-cut letters for this DIY tutorial and instead used a Silhouette Cameo to cut orange letters because that was the team’s color. I also chose a font similar to that of the SF Giants because, well, they’re kind of a big deal here in the Bay Area and orange does happen to be their signature color.

I am not going to go through how to create a Silhouette cut file because there are already plenty of online tutorials.

Pro Tip: Because I had to do multiple bats, I created a cut file that would use most of the 12″ square of vinyl so I would only have to do one total pass cutting the vinyl.

Add 1″ Vinyl Lettering To Wood Bat

Things To Consider For Bat Design

The only real things to consider for this baseball coach gift involve selecting an appropriate font and size if you’re going to cut your own letters then determining where you’d like to place the lettering on the bat you selected.

I decided to use 1″ letters and number because kids are signing the bat and since they don’t always have the smallest handwriting, I wanted to leave plenty of space for their names. The 1″ vinyl letters are prominent but on the smaller side.

Host A End Of The Season Signing Party

Since most teams have some form a celebration after the season ends, it’s the easiest time and place to have the kids (and parents if you’re so inclined) sign the bats and present them to the coaches.

If a party isn’t typically your thing, you could host an informal get together to have everyone sign the bats and then give them to the coaches.

After all, this baseball coach gift is sure to be a grand slam and something they’ll treasure forever.